USAID and its partners are helping Vietnam accelerate epidemic control to reach the country’s 90-90-90 targets (where by 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status; 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy; and 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression). During the week of July 23, USAID’s Sustainable HIV Response from Technical Assistance project (SHIFT) provided technical support in Tay Ninh, Tien Giang and Dong Nai provinces to help local health authorities analyze viral load testing results. The results were outstanding since they found that 96.8% of those tested had viral loads below 1,000 copies/mL, which made them low risk of transmitting HIV. In addition, a majority of the 96.8% had viral loads below 200 copies/mL, making them unable to transmit the disease.

So What? USAID support is enabling local HIV stakeholders to accurately measure progress to achieve epidemic control, and use these promising early results to demonstrate continued improvements in health system performance.